First, thanks to all posters on this board for all their information and experiences.
Wifey and I made first trip to IOA/US in about 6-7 years this past weekend.
General observations: Olivander's isn't worth waiting more than 20 minutes for. FJ is good and well executed, including path through castle. (we did get stuck during 1st ride, flat on our back right before the Quidditch match for about a minute) Butterbeer-meh, not a fan of the foam, and because drink is copyrighted, can't get one w/out foam. Pumpkin Juice quite good, and available bottled. 3Broom's food is quite good and fairly large portions. Don't wait for butterbeer at the carts, go to the Boar's Head, usually no line PLUS you get Annual pass discount.
We stayed on property at RPR, worth the extra cost for convenience, and early admission. We were in tower 1 and check in gal told us about exiting a door at the bottom of the staircase that put us right on the walking path.
We arrived about 1pm Friday (11/5/10) and it was 2pm or so by the time we reached WWoHP. Friday crowds-insane. by far the most crowded that we noticed all weekend. 2+ hour wait for Olivanders and we didn't even try for FJ.
3Broomsticks wasn't that busy, was able to get in and seated in about 15 min. We left, and visited US for rest of the day. RipRockit is worth the wait, but we had delays due to high winds. Alt music list works (I chose 101, Rush.)
Saturday early admission had lines at turnstiles to get in, but moved quickly. First was FJ (and the getting stuck episode). We did Hippogriff just because it was right there. Crowds in the whole area were manageable. We left around noon to do US for a while. We came back and managed to get in line for Ollivander's at about 5:45 and were among the last ppl in line before they closed the line.
Hulk at dusk is just about the best thing in the world.
Sunday (11/07/10), early admission again, and smaller crowds during the whole day. First was FJ and basically walked right on the right at 8:20am. got to make up the Quidditch part of the ride we missed from the day before.
We got to do all of WWoHP that we wanted to do at least twice. Plus all of US in three days.
We mostly ate at 3Broom- menu is not the most inventive, but well executed and all the different items were tasty. We ate Saturday lunch at Mythos, we shared a chef's special pizza, and a half bottle of bottled water still came in under 15$.
Friday was nearly impossibly crowded, Sunday was just about perfect.
Thanks again for all the posters. I appreciate the effort and willing to share your experiences..
DC
Wifey and I made first trip to IOA/US in about 6-7 years this past weekend.
General observations: Olivander's isn't worth waiting more than 20 minutes for. FJ is good and well executed, including path through castle. (we did get stuck during 1st ride, flat on our back right before the Quidditch match for about a minute) Butterbeer-meh, not a fan of the foam, and because drink is copyrighted, can't get one w/out foam. Pumpkin Juice quite good, and available bottled. 3Broom's food is quite good and fairly large portions. Don't wait for butterbeer at the carts, go to the Boar's Head, usually no line PLUS you get Annual pass discount.
We stayed on property at RPR, worth the extra cost for convenience, and early admission. We were in tower 1 and check in gal told us about exiting a door at the bottom of the staircase that put us right on the walking path.
We arrived about 1pm Friday (11/5/10) and it was 2pm or so by the time we reached WWoHP. Friday crowds-insane. by far the most crowded that we noticed all weekend. 2+ hour wait for Olivanders and we didn't even try for FJ.
3Broomsticks wasn't that busy, was able to get in and seated in about 15 min. We left, and visited US for rest of the day. RipRockit is worth the wait, but we had delays due to high winds. Alt music list works (I chose 101, Rush.)
Saturday early admission had lines at turnstiles to get in, but moved quickly. First was FJ (and the getting stuck episode). We did Hippogriff just because it was right there. Crowds in the whole area were manageable. We left around noon to do US for a while. We came back and managed to get in line for Ollivander's at about 5:45 and were among the last ppl in line before they closed the line.
Hulk at dusk is just about the best thing in the world.
Sunday (11/07/10), early admission again, and smaller crowds during the whole day. First was FJ and basically walked right on the right at 8:20am. got to make up the Quidditch part of the ride we missed from the day before.
We got to do all of WWoHP that we wanted to do at least twice. Plus all of US in three days.
We mostly ate at 3Broom- menu is not the most inventive, but well executed and all the different items were tasty. We ate Saturday lunch at Mythos, we shared a chef's special pizza, and a half bottle of bottled water still came in under 15$.
Friday was nearly impossibly crowded, Sunday was just about perfect.
Thanks again for all the posters. I appreciate the effort and willing to share your experiences..
DC
